Tom Guilfoy Memorial Craftsmanship Award
Created in 2004, this annual award was in memory of Tom Guilfoy, owner of 100 year old Guilfoy Cornice Works in San Francisco. This award is for any project where attention to detail and expertise was critical to the project and exemplifies teamwork between sheet metal workers and the contractor and the contractor and owner.
This award is presented annually for any type of work in the HVAC, Specialty, Industrial, Kitchen or Architectural fields. Projects entered will be judged on the skill and expertise exhibited to complete the project, regardless of how big or small. There are two main categories – mechanical and architectural, along with a creative concepts category to recognize exceptional projects falling outside of the mechanical and architectural categories.
2023 Guilfoy Award Submissions for Projects Completed in 2022
2023 Winner – Architectural Category
The 2023 Tom Guilfoy Craftsmanship Award in the Architectural category was awarded to California Sheet Metal for The Grand LA project in Los Angeles, California.
This winning project included general sheet metal and exterior metal panel cladding system work. This included copings and flashing integral to the exterior metal panel system at the roof and parapet conditions, radius metal panels at the Grand Staircase, radius metal panel at the podium and bridges.
Just a sample of the many details of the project include:
The Grand Staircase – the staircase is curved with many components that were not plumb. The design development required multiple mock-ups, 3D scanning and modeling in order to achieve the use of the panel system installed on the staircase, which consisted of 127 different panels. The panels are made of 1/8” aluminum tab and slot panels that were installed all around the slab level of the podium. Additionally, The Staircase consisted of 59 different flat plate copings at the top of the staircase. There is a handrail running down the panels that had to be laid out and the backing for the brackets placed to ensure it didn’t land on the joints.
Panel Cladding – 3/16” Aluminum panels were installed on multiple floors of the project’s hotel and residence towers. Radius panels were installed along the sides of two different bridges. 1/8” aluminum panel cladding along the sides of 6 escalators. 3/16” aluminum panel cladding at all elevator openings in the podium area.
Number of Man Hours Spent: Shop Fabrication – 22,597 & Field Installation – 46,246
2023 Winner – Mechanical Category
The 2022 Tom Guilfoy Craftsmanship award in the Mechanical category was awarded to ACCO Engineered Systems for The Grand LA project in Los Angeles, CA.
This winner was chosen due to the project’s complexity, collaboration, and craftsmanship. This project’s building design posed several challenges requiring Engineering, Construction, and System Operations teams to work closely together.
This project required an astounding total of 19 Air Handling Units.
Due to the complexity of the Jenga-style design with unique staggered floorplans, offsets of the exhaust subduct systems to kitchens, restrooms, and general exhaust required BIM coordination due to local mechanical codes restricting offsets of the routing. The stair relief locations for fire and life safety smoke evacuation were strategically placed and coordinated with the fire marshal where the final exterior terminations had to be “open to sky” with no operable windows within these locations and meet or exceed ventilation provisions.
Number of Man Hours Spent: 236,000
2023 Winner – Creative Concept Category
The 2022 Tom Guilfoy Craftsmanship Award in the Creative Concept category was awarded to G.E.S. Sheet Metal for the MLK Child and Family Wellbeing Center project located in Los Angeles, California.
This company developed all the design and fabrication details to bring the artist’s vision to life. They had to design and create the attachment system and stay within budget.
The project consists of 3/16” custom laser-cut aluminum panels attached to a color-matched aluminum subframe. Different-sized round hole perforations were used to create shading and depth to the images and laser cut lines and shapes to paint outlines of the children and background images. 2×4 aluminum tubes were used for the structural substrate behind the metal panels. A series of clips and brackets connected the aluminum tubes to each other and to the wall.
The design was not generated from a million-dollar software application nor by a studio of architects. It was a collaboration between a local artist and a team of sheet metal workers. It captures the artist’s intent and represents teamwork.
Number of Man Hours Spent: 5,600
Past recipients of this award include:
2021 Architectural – California Sheet Metal – Seritage at UTC, San Diego, CA
Creative Concepts– Therma – Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 104 Livermore Hall, Livermore, CA
2020 Architectural – California Sheet Metal – UTC Residential Tower, San Diego, CA
Mechanical – Southland Industries, Inc. – Gilead NB324, Foster City, CA
2019 Architectural –CMF, Inc.– Cal Poly Pomona Student Services Building, Pomona, CA
Mechanical – Southland Industries, Inc.– Sutter Health CPMC Van Ness Campus Hospital, San Francisco, CA
2018 Architectural –CMF, Inc.– Apple Park, Cupertino, CA
Mechanical – ACCO Engineered Systems– USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Architectural –California Sheet Metal– Eli Lilly at Campus Pointe, San Diego, CA
Mechanical – University Mechanical & Engineering Contractors– UC San Diego, Jacobs Medical Center, La Jolla, CA
2016 Architectural –G.E.S. Sheet Metal– IAC Building, West Hollywood, CA
Mechanical – Control Air North, Inc.– Samsung American Headquarters, San Jose, CA
2015 ACCO Engineered Systems– Levi Stadium Home of the San Francisco 49ers, Santa Clara, CA
2014 Architectural –California Sheet Metal– San Diego Central New Library, San Diego, CA
Mechanical – Control Air North, Inc.– Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, Oakland, CA
2013 Architectural –Air Systems of Sacramento– William Jessup University Expansion, Rocklin, CA
Mechanical – ACCO Engineered Systems– Cedars Sinai Advanced Health Science Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
2012 Architectural –Brady Air Conditioning, Inc.– 1905 Samuel Murphy Windmill Restoration Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA
Mechanical– Control Air North, Inc.– Li Ka-Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences at UC Berkley, Berkley, CA
2011 Architectural –CMF, Inc.– Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
Mechanical – Key Air Conditioning, Inc.– Tom Bradley International Interior Improvement, Los Angeles, CA
2010 Architectural –Air Systems, Inc.– Target Store, Sunnyvale, CA
Mechanical – Marelich Mechanical, Inc.– GLAVC Veterans Home of California, West Los Angeles, CA
2009 CMF, Inc.– Los Angeles High School #9 for the Visual and Performing Arts, Central Los Angeles, CA
2008 Control Air North, Inc.– California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA
2007 Air Systems Inc.– Harborwalk Condominiums, Oakland, CA
2006 Weiss Sheet Metal Company– Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA
2005 Custom Metal Fabricators, Inc.– Millennium Park BP Pedestrian Bridge, Chicago, IL